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The excavations of the Indian mounds on the Alabama river near Jackson, in this state, have caused considerable interest throughout the country. In the minds of many geol ogists who have visited that section there is a doubt as to whether the builders of the mounds were Indians or not. Those in a position to know say that the oldest Indians found in this vicinity know nothing of the builders and did not build any them selves, and besides, in some places there are proofs of their not belong ing to the same that were found by Columbus. An old man by the name of Hiney Wagon says that at Bon Secour, near Mobile, there is a low, flat hammock or swamp in which’ are to be found thousands of human bones and teeth, ‘and some of the bones or teeth were uncommonly large, many of them be ing as large as horse teeth. While he was there looking at them, he picked up a tooth that had been plugged with gold, an art not known by the Ameri can Indians. John Hannah, one of the oldest liv ing steamboat men in the state, says that many years ago he went up the Itose Sound with a fishing party,and while there got to looking fot those old mounds (there are a lot of them there), and decided one day to dig into one and see if they could find anythin in it. They got up some tools , dug into the center and struck the foot of a human skeleton, which was intact. They dug on until “reached the back, and left r. It was warm, and they ish the job, but he said that oarious proportions; larger said that ‘long, and arely large. This man must have been at least fourteen feet high. “Now that will not do for the Amer ican Indian, and if it had been they certainly would have some tradition concerning them,” say the geologists who are here in the interest of a Phila delphia institution. The Indians would have had some reason for build ing those mounds. According to his tory they have absolutely none, and know no more about them than we do. Some contend that the arrow heads and spear heads, pottery, etc., found are evidence proving that they were Indians. It is possible that they are the de scendants of the prehistoric people of Mexico, but it is highly improbable. At any rate, there is absolutely no evidence tending to show that they are, and the conclusion that forces it self upon me is that there is no connec tion between them. It is possible that they were not of the same color. ‘They evidently attained a high state of civ ilization. They were evidently much further advanced than the Indian, and their characteristics « altogether different. The India ‘ver known to do any more ; necessity com pelled him to do, much less build tem ples or throw up those large mounds, a. La
Newspaper Details
Mobile Daily Item
Mobile, Alabama, US
Wed, Nov 22, 1905
Page 54
Full Page
Clipped by
Kelley L.
USA 13 Jul 2026
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